Broadville Middle School Oil Release

When a boiler line broke at the Broadview Middle School in March 2010, about 1,800 gallons of No. 2 heating oil was released from two 5,000-gallon storage tanks. The break, which apparently occurred between March 13 and 15, was discovered March 15 by an employee of the school, which sits in a dense area with residential and commercial buildings. A contractor on March 16 used vacuum trucks and sorbent pads to clean up the school. The drainage system at the school consisted of storm drains in the boiler room that connected directly to an open storm sewer behind the school. The oil was released into that storm sewer, which leads to a stormwater gully that flows past a neighboring daycare center and into the storm drains of a parking lot at a medical center. This infiltration system leads to the Still River and subsequently the Housatonic River. The smell of oil was evident near the river but the currents were flowing too quickly to see the oil.

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